'Batman v Superman': Charles Roven On The Wider DC Universe On-Film and 'Justice League'

'Batman v Superman': Charles Roven On The Wider DC Universe On-Film and 'Justice League'

The Producer Details a Unique Creative Process

By Alex Burns

The DC Comics cinematic universe is steadily beginning to take shape, with 'Batman v Superman' set for release March 2016, 'Suicide Squad' following in August and the several solo movies in the works it's a good time to be a comic book fan. Producer Charles Roven (The Dark Knight Trilogy) is part of the creative team behind this new interconnected DC universe on-film and in an interview with Collider he's spoken a little bit about the individuals that have made all this possible and how they've all managed to settle on the the decade long schedule currently in place.

“I think also very much involved in that brain trust is John Berg, who is the executive vice president at Warner Bros. I would say the Snyders, myself, John Berg, and Geoff Johns would be sort of that Brain Trust… I’m working with great people. They’re all really great people. And not that we don’t—there are many times we agree, and there’s many times we don’t agree [and] we work it out.”

Roven is keen to stress the fact that the movies are all linked mustn't limit the vision for each solo picture and with characters like Aquaman and Wonder Woman set for their first cinematic adaptation that's certainly not be scoffed at.

“The other thing that I really love about what we’re doing is we’re also bringing in really talented other filmmakers and having them come in and create—I call it the sandbox. We’ve got this sandbox of the Justice League DC characters, and we are hoping to create—this series of movies that we’ve announced are somewhat interlinked. The characters move at a throughline that hopefully will take us all the way to Justice League 2, but they also can interact in the other films as well in some way… So if, for example, The Flash movie or the Aquaman film is gonna come out after Justice League 1, it’s not gonna be a completely different character; that character will have evolved from Justice League 1. Wonder Woman, when we see her in Justice League 1, will have evolved from Batman v Superman. Unless we decide that in one of these stories we’re gonna do something that happened in the past and have it be more of an origination story, in which case you’ll realize how that character became what they were in the movie that they were first introduced.”

Warner Bros. and DC Comics have been eager to establish a film franchise and brand to match the might of Marvel and Disney and their success with the 'Avengers' movies, 'Guardians of the Galaxy' etc. Warner's have often stated they are trying to offer something alternative to Marvel rather than simply mimic their movie business model and unique style, 'Batman v Superman' is looking to truly establish a shared universe before 'Justice League Part 1' bows in cinemas, the studio is also hoping that the success of that team-up movie will be enough to warrant interest in solo films for Cyborg, The Flash and more. Time will tell if the formula works, until then, keep it locked at Cape and Cowl for more developments in the realm of DC movies!